I didn’t think – I just sifted through them, my pulse racing faster and faster as I saw the same logo on every sheet.
“Should I call the fire department?” I heard Emmett call from the stairs. There was a laugh in his voice, and I caught the big grin on his face when I looked up to see him head into the kitchen, wearing a fresh white tee and blue jeans.
But he paused when he saw that I wasn’t there, and when he turned to find me in his office, he stopped in his tracks. He stared at me, then the papers in my hands, and with a tight jaw, he took the few steps into the room, stopping just inside the door as he looked at me.
“What are you doing, Aly?”
“I was looking for something to wave at the alarm.”
He took another step in.
“What did you find?” he asked, his voice tight.
I swallowed the golf ball-sized knot in my throat, dropping my gaze back down to that familiar logo before eyeing him again.
“How do you know this company?” My question came out almost a whisper as I held up the paper in my hands. “This is the company that invested in me three years ago. So I could open my restaurant.”
Emmett’s Adam’s apple bobbed. I mustered up all the patience inside me as I waited for his answer, but his silence was confirmation enough for what I’d come to suspect within seconds of recognizing that logo.
God.
I’d come to love that sleek blue mark. It reminded me of my big break – the pivotal change in my life, when I realized my dream had come true. I was so sure that day when Evie and I found out we’d landed the investment that all our hard work had paid off.
But as I stood in Emmett’s office, I realized that the pride I felt that day was perhaps undeserved.
“Were you the one who invested in my company, Emmett?” I asked, feeling numbness spread through my body from head to toe. “I’m not trying to fight, I just need you to answer me,” I pleaded softly, watching his chest broaden as he drew in a deep breath.
“Yes.”
Tears instantly stung my eyes as my stomach turned. I chewed back my trembling lip as I stood there quietly, dialing back to every memory of what I’d done to secure my dream of opening my restaurant. My heart pounded in my chest when I remembered that day – that miracle day when after dozens of job applications to the same company, Drea van Dahl finally emailed me back.
I thought she was my blessing – a guardian angel who for some reason took me under
her wing. I liked to imagine that she’d seen something special in me. That maybe my determination radiated so hard that she’d detected it, and of her own free will, made the decision to foster it.
I always thought it was something in me.
But that idea was crushed as I looked up at Emmett.
“You never told me how you knew her.”
“Who?”
“Drea.” My throat was so tight I could barely speak. “So I need you to tell me now, Emmett. Tell me how you know Drea.”
“We’re work acquaintances,” he answered, taking a long pause before he went on. “I’m an investor with The Victorian. Her restaurant group manages the bar at the top of that hotel.”
“How long have you known her?”
“Five years.”
His answer mortified me, prompting tears to burn in my eyes. But I blinked them back, gathering myself just enough to ask one last question.
“Were you the reason I got hired at Vandermark Restaurants four years ago?” I asked, my voice quivering.
“Yes.”
I let out a breath, one hand clasped over my mouth and the other hugging my body.